


Black Fur, Black Claws

by ThatDamnKennedyKid



Series: Alpha Taekwoon [1]
Category: VIXX
Genre: Alpha!Leo, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, Gender or Sex Swap, Omega!Hongbin, Omega!Hyuk, Omega!Ken, Omega!N, Omega!Ravi, Physical Abuse, Sexual Abuse, fem!leo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-27
Updated: 2016-09-27
Packaged: 2018-08-18 06:01:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8151544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatDamnKennedyKid/pseuds/ThatDamnKennedyKid
Summary: Taekwoon had been cast out of her pack years ago for being the wrong thing - a female alpha wolf. But as time and miles passed her by, her bitterness faded and she took on a cause as accidental as it was rewarding: helping five abused and scarred omegas find freedom, choice and peace. If that happened to be at her side, she wasn't going to complain. (Cross-posted from AFF)





	

Wonshik and Hongbin were sitting guard on either side of the door. On the other side of the one-room cabin sat Hakyeon, Sanghyuk and Jaehwan curled in on him from either side. They were all very still, attentively listening as old submission instincts halted their desire to go outside, to help. 

"Give him back to me, you knotting bitch!"

There was a thick snarl followed by the sound of a heavy impact. A higher growl sliced through the quiet forest air and weaseled through the walls of the small cabin. Sanghyuk whimpered into Hakyeon's waist and Jaehwan shifted just enough so they could touch noses. Hakyeon's maternal smell was fading in place of a tightly-reigned fear scent. Wonshik and Hongbin were soaked with distress pheromones, but none of it was strong enough to overpower the alphas outside, one leaking out battle scent and the other caked over with rage. 

"I don't want to be prey again." Sanghyuk whispered. Hakyeon's grip on his shoulder tightened. 

Hakyeon was staring at the door, as if daring it to open. Wonshik and Hongbin were looking at each other, both with nerves steeled. Sanghyuk and Jaehwan locked gazes, holding hands across Hakyeon's lap. More violence sounded from outside. 

* * *

This was Hakyeon's fourth alpha. 

The first hadn't been too bad. Hakyeon had been part of a treaty and given away as a concubine. No alpha male would be caught dead mated properly to an omega male, only the females, but omega males made good breeding stock. He hadn't been too rough nor insulting. But he broke the treaty and when the Cha pack came back to extract what they were promised, they took Hakyeon back with them. 

The second had been degrading. He'd been marketed as used goods and auctioned off as a second-tier concubine. He'd been forced to his knees over and over again no matter how he felt. The alpha's mate had no sympathy for him, often limping and crying, telling him every time she seen him that he was a whore and deserved the kind of treatment he got. None of the betas or deltas helped him either, just looking right on past him like a potted plant or a servant. Again, the treaty hadn't been upheld and the Cha pack came back, dragging Hakyeon away once more. 

The third had been devastating. He'd been left bruised and bleeding after every encounter, his body and spirit broken right out of him. And then, during his first heat with the man, he'd had his ability to bear children stolen from him too. He'd been kept for another three years before being returned as 'damaged goods'. 

The fourth he could hardly remember. The first time meeting the man, he'd been punched in the stomach so hard he'd collapsed, gasping for breath. He was told that was where he belonged and from then on, it was a steady stream of violence. His only reprieve was in the evenings, when he was let out to wash himself and 'get presentable' for morning activities. 

Taekwoon had found him there, sobbing into the river as he cursed his parents for ever giving him life and letting him be an omega. 

"What happened to you?"

Hakyeon had thought he'd imagined that soft, airy voice, like the ghost of a protective spirit. When he looked up, he was instead met with a thick black coat and obsidian eyes, both of which glowed blue under the influence of the moon. Just from this alpha's coat alone, he could tell they were one of the north-western Jung - notorious for their solid midnight fur and slim physiques. 

"What's supposed to happen." Was his bitter response. The alpha walked closer to him, chilled snout brushing his bare skin, sniffing him. The large wolf butted its head against his side and pushed him down before sitting beside him and starting to lick his wounds. It burned and more tears came to his eyes, but not because of the pain: it had been years since someone had taken the time to tend to him, to show him any kind of compassion or care. 

"You're an omega." The wolf said. "What's your name?"

"Cha. Cha Hakyeon."

"Ah. The red hair."

Yes, his south-western heritage. vibrant red hair, maroon coats and yellow-ringed irises with bronze skin. Cha were also a very distinctive pack. He didn't feel very honoured to be part of such a well-respected line. "Yeah."

"What did all of this to you?"

"I'm not sure. I stopped keeping track."

The alpha stopped licking his wounds and the feeling of the fur lifted from his skin. A couple seconds later there was a tender brush of long, slender fingers through his hair. He opened his eyes and looked up at the alpha, surprised to find a  _woman_  sitting there. Her hair was the same colour as her fur and blanketed her entire waist in mildly wavy locks, Her features were sharp; thin, narrow eyes, a thin, straight nose, gently arched eyebrows, high cheekbones and pale skin. But her lips were a deep pink and lush, like a heart instead of a mouth. 

"You should leave here." She said, stroking through his hair. "You're not safe here."

"To where?" He snapped. "I don't have anywhere else to go."

"I didn't have a place to go. You don't need one, you just need the courage and the smarts to run."

He had honestly expected her to make an offer, like any other alpha.  _I'll help you if I get your next heat_  or some such thing. 

"Could you help me?" He asked, wary. 

"Do you need my help?"

"Well, I was never taught how to hunt, so I won't make it on my own."

She considered him for a long moment. "Will you be ready by tomorrow night?"

"I'm ready tongiht."

"No you're not. Your cuts need to clot and stop bleeding and you need rest. I'll be back tomorrow night at this time. I suggest you wash my smell away and get as much sleep as you can, but I will be here for you tomorrow regardless."

Hakyeon had been left alone that day, the alpha distracted by infighting among the betas and deltas. He'd slept almost all of it, like she'd said, and did feel better for it. When he left that night to bathe, she was there as she'd said, her eyes glimmering in her wolf form across the body of water. He swam over to her, in his wolf for the first time in years. It felt so good to run again, even if it was alongside another alpha. 

"What's your name?" He'd asked after a day or so of silent travel. They were camped out two days' run from his last alpha's camp and eating three rabbits that she'd hunted down as a demonstration for him. 

"Taekwoon."

"You're Jung, right? What are you doing down here?"

She met his gaze. "I was exiled."

"For what?"

"Alphas are supposed to rule the packs. The unspoken rule is that it's supposed to be alpha  _males_."

His eyes widened in understanding. "How long have you been out here alone?"

"Since my first rut. I was fifteen winters at the time."

He nodded, looking back down at the fire.

Taekwoon did teach him to hunt. And he hunted well. 

"Taekwoonie?"

She looked at him. She  _always_  met his gaze and he appreciated being treated like an equal. 

"I don't want to leave you."

"Then don't."

It was a month after his escape that his last alpha caught up with them. He'd never seen something as wonderful and as frightening as Taekwoon beating the other alpha to death, her breath in quick, near-silent pants. 

* * *

Someone slammed into a nearby tree. Jaehwan and Sanghyuk jumped. Wonshik and Hongbin tensed. 

"Will she make it?" Jaehwan whimpered. 

"You've never seen her fight." Hakyeon replied. 

"What do you mean by that?'

"You don't understand what she's like fighting." Hongbin said.

* * *

HIs mother had told him once that the Lee pack had one been the most powerful, ruling most of Korea alongside the Kim pack. But somewhere along the line, the blood got thin and the pack split apart in several small factions. Hongbin came from a very small faction, locked deep in the southern forests. 

"An arranged mating isn't a bad thing, Bean." She'd said. "That's what happened between me and your father and look at how happy we care."

"But you're a beta and he's a delta." Hongbin had complained. "I'm an omega. We're treated different than you."

"It'll be good. You'll see."

It wasn't. 

An arranged mating to a man who had been nasty enough to his first mate that she ran from the pack. He spent days chained in the basement of the small house.

"I'm so lucky to have gotten a pup so pretty to make cry." He'd been told and the cold rush of fear had been enough to scare his body into delaying his heat. The more violent the man got, the stronger the denial, the longer the delay. 

Six months after he'd been handed over, Hongbin managed to escape the basement, legs only strong enough to get him onto the dirt street. He was in tears, tasting fresh air for the first time since his mating, and started begging for help. 

"Please! Just take me back to my parents!" He'd pleaded with pack members,  _friends_ , who didn't stop long enough to do anything but sneer at him. 

"You should have been a better omega and you probably wouldn't look like that." HIs best friend said. "You should go back inside and behave if you know what's good for you."

"No, please, you don't understand-"

The pack alpha walked past, strangers in tow, likely travellers.The woman, hair wavy and black, stopped. 

"Who is he?" She asked, her voice soft and soothing. The man with red hair, following her, stopped immediately too, freezing in place at the sight of Hongbin's condition. 

"Lee Hongbin, a mate to one of the local alphas. I'm sure he'll be here soon to take care of him. Let's move along."

The man's gaze flickered between the pack alpha and the woman he was with. He took the bag she was holding and started to wordlessly walk back the way they'd come. 

"Where is your omega going?" The pack alpha asked. 

The woman knelt next to Hongbin, taking off her overlarge shirt and helping him into it. He'd forgotten he was naked. 

"Hold on, Miss Jung. Just what do you think you're doing? He's a mated omega. I'm sure an alpha like yourself knows how one's supposed to act. After all, it is a courtesy that we've let in a female alpha."

Miss Jung paid him no attention, swiping her hand through his hair, gently wiping away tears. "Lee Hongbin? Are you okay?"

He shook his head. He wasn't okay, he wasn't. He didn't  _deserve_  this. He hated it. He was so sick of the smell of alcohol and filthy lust. 

"My name is Taekwoon. Is it okay if I help you, Hongbin?" She said, her voice so light she may as well have whispered. 

He nodded rapidly. She smelt like protection, like safety, and he needed it. 

"Get your filthy fucking hands off my mate!" Hongbin shrunk into her arms, shivering against her chest and cowering inside her shirt. 

There was a feral gleam in her eyes when his mate grasped her shoulder, pulling her away. She stumbled to her feet, letting him push her away.

"Even a heathen whore like you should know not to touch-"

But Taekwoon was  _fast_. She took a running punch and knocked the man clean off his feet. She paced around him slowly, calmly, stopping in front of Hongbin. He stood up in a flurry, barring his fangs and hissing at her. She watched him, not so much as blinking as she stared him down.

"You wanna fight over the little bitch? Let's go then."

"Are you challenging her for the price of Hongbin?" The pack alpha cut in. 

The man snarled. "Yes. Over my dead body will she take him from me."

The pack alpha pulled Hongbin over with him, holding him by the neck. "Let the challenge begin, then, for the wager of mateship to Lee Hongbin."

Taekwoon still hadn't moved. She let the man take this swing, deftly dodging and grabbing his arm, elbowing him hard three times in lightning-quick succession before skipping away and letting him go. She circled him, eyeing him from every angle. He charged her again, but she was too smooth. She ducked his arm, but grabbed his chin and kicked out his legs, knocking him into his back. Before he could get up again, she straddled him, left hand on his throat while the repeatedly and savagely punched him in the face. She kept punching him even after he stopped moving. 

Hongbin felt perverse satisfaction at seeing the man get a beating. He watched her hit him once more, extra hard, before standing up.

"The winner is Jung Taekwoon." The pack alpha stated. "Go to her then, Hongbin. You belong to her now."

He stepped forward on wobbly legs. She caught him, gently pressing their foreheads together. "Do you want to stay here?"

"No."

She nodded, rubbing their noses together. "Do you want to come with me?"

"Yes."

The redheaded man reappeared over her shoulder. "Taekwoonie, I've got everything."

She nodded and helped Hongbin up, keeping an arm around his waist.

* * *

Another thick snarl, this one long and vicious before there was a high yelp. All of them tensed. 

"She's going to win." Hongbin repeated, the dusky cinnamon of his hair catching the mid-afternoon light and his eyes twinkling like stars against the void of space. "She always wins."

"Even against him?" Sanghyuk said, curling further into Hakyeon. "Even against someone stronger than her?"

"Yes." Wonshik replied. 

* * *

He had been in one breeding den before this one, the one belonging to his pack. He'd been sold off now, to some other pack.

He was sitting in the wooden crate on the back of a carriage when the first growl sounded. He didn't have a lot of room to look around and the planks largely blocked out the light and scenery, but he did see a strange red wolf, maroon almost, along with a cinnamon-bronze wolf approach his crate, sniffing it and snarling viciously. He wasn't sure why, though. They smelled like omegas, so it wasn't like they wanted him for themselves.

"What, you looking for an easy ride in, omegas?" One of his escorts sneered. "I can give you an induction course right now."

The cinnamon one ducked down, but its fur raised, hackles jumping. The red one sneered back. 

"I didn't leave my hell to join yours."

"Got ourselves a mouthy little bitch, don't we? Care for a lesson in manners?"

There was a black wolf that trotted out of the woods, looked up at the cart, then trotted over to it. The two betas delivering him shut up at the scent of alpha, but got more hostile. The black one looked in and met his eye. 

"Are you hurt?"

He blinked in surprise. "No."

"Would you like to be let out of this cage?"

"Well, yes, but we're not at the destination yet."

The alpha stared at him. "Do you know why you're going there?"

"To be part of the breeding den. That's what I'm for."

"Is that what you want to do?"

"I don't understand."

"Back the fuck up! He's ours to deliver. Keep your curious nose and your two whores to yourself, alpha." The guards hissed. 

"He's bruised all over."

He looked down at himself. Why did the alpha sound like he shouldn't be? Alphas got rough during sex. That's just how it happened. 

"Fucking Kim shitheads." The cinnamon wolf snapped, even though his body was tucked behind the red wolf. 

"Got something to say?" The guards retorted. 

"You couldn't even let him walk?" The alpha cut in, voice soft but firm. 

"He's not allowed to walk." One of the beta guards tersely replied. "He's valuable. Not like a rogue alpha like you has any business asking."

The alpha's cutting gaze shifted from the crate. "And you would not let me buy him from you instead?"

"He's already been sold to another pack." The other beta bit out. "It's not up to us to sell him. That's up to the new pack."

"I suppose I have to follow you, then."

The two omega growled lowly, but the alpha only tapped their noses with its own. 

"You can't be serious."

"Why not? You said I cannot purchase him from you, so I will purchase him from his owners."

"And what does an alpha alone like you want with him? Looking to start a harem or something?"

"Not like a docile beta like you has any business asking." The alpha parroted. "If it will make you more comfortable, we'll follow from the woods."

"Do whatever you want, but you're staying away from his crate and making camp elsewhere."

"That's fine." The alpha replied, non-chalant. The two omegas bristled.

"Are you actually going to support this?" The red one sneered. 

The alpha sent the omega a sharp look and the other cowed down, silenced for now but still visibly unimpressed. 

Come nightfall, when both betas were sound asleep, the alpha approached his crate once more. He only knew the woman was the same alpha because she carried the heartwarming scent of summer earthen rain and sun-warm blackberries. "What is your name?"

He blinked at her, surprised once more. "Kim. Kim Wonshik."

"Have you been in a breeding den since your first heat?"

"How did you know I was in a breeding den?"

"You're covered in marks, but no claiming scars or the heavy bruising of an unwanted concubine."

"Yes, I'm a breeder."

"Would you prefer to be free?"

"Well . . . Yeah. But it's not going to happen. I won't be sold. I'm very good at my job and sold for a very high price, I understand."

Her eyes were razors in the dimness and he felt them in his soul. "Do you want to be free  _tonight_?"

"Yes." He wanted to know what it felt like to be free, how his adult wolf form felt. His first heat had been so long ago now.

The alpha nodded, made a motion and vanished around outside his vision. Two tall men appeared from the woods, one a redhead with bronze skin and the other with cinnamon-brown hair and creamy skin. 

"I'm Hakyeon." The redhead introduced. "And this is Hongbin. We're with Taekwoon and we're going to help you, okay? Can you do as we say?"

"Yes." 

Hakyeon glanced around the side of the crate and his shimmery white claiming scar shone in the moonlight. Hongbin, too, had one. It was quite likely that the female alpha - Taekwoon - had claimed them as her own. Wonshik wondered if she would do the same with him.

Just then, there was a shrill cry - one of the betas - and a low growl. Hakyeon had a fair-sized rock in his hand and broke the lock clean off the wooden door of the crate. Hongbin reached inside and helped him out, slinging an arm around his neck to help him into the shelter of the woods. The last time he seen anything of his old pack was Taekwoon, sleek black in her wolf form, launch over the dead body of one of the betas, her teeth sinking into the neck of the other grey beta wolf. He thought he should feel more sorry for them, but he didn't. He didn't really feel much of anything.

* * *

Another harsh slam and this time the yelp was lower pitched. There was also a pained and furious growl. All their heads snapped to the window at the sound of liquid hitting it and there was a collective feeling of dread when they saw it was blood, a suctioned clump of fur sliding down the pane.

"It's dark fur." Sanghyuk mumured, fear evident in his voice. "Oh God, it's dark fur."

"It could just be bloody fur." Hakyeon reasoned. 

"That looks like black fur." Was Jaehwan's whispered reply. 

"Don't start to worry until the fighting stops." Wonshik instructed, now perched on the balls of his feet. "Then, and only then, let the fear out."

* * *

When the Lee pack had broken apart, the strongest faction had moved into the north-east forest. There, like the remains of the Kim pack to the proper north, their creamy white coats would help them navigate the snow-laden forests. Their white-blonde hair and caramel skin made them stunning prizes from a negotiation and Jaehwan had been one of those. 

Back home, there had been no problem. Jaehwan had been the bubbly heart of the pack, constantly playing mood-maker and trying to bring happiness into the camp. No one had ever degraded him for his secondary gender nor treated him badly for it. It had been so long sine they even had a male omega for a bargaining chip, that they almost didn't know how to treat him and just resorted to giving him the same courtesies as everybody else. But the smaller pack he had been given to didn't have the same understandings. 

He became a 'pack omega', passed from one person to another whenever they got bored and regularly the last to be fed or clothed or cared for. His health fell so far that he lost feeling in his limbs for long periods of time and lost the ability to shift for when his pack called on him during their migrations. Once the alphas decided a sextoy wasn't worth the effort to carry and none of the betas or deltas were interested anymore in his dead weight, they left him. 

Freezing, starving, thirsty, weak and not even able to shift enough to save himself from the snow, Jaehwan was sure he would die. Come nightfall that day, four wolves approached him, all strolling leisurely. He didn't mean to make a sound to attract their attention - the only thing still working was his nose and he knew the scent of alpha anywhere - but they didn't come at him with any kind of lust. 

The big black one, the alpha, stopped at his head and sniffed his neck, scenting him. It made a disapproving noise. One of the omegas tailing behind the alpha shifted. His red hair was like a beacon in the night. He pulled two thick furs out of the alpha's saddlebag, braving the cold and snow in his in his bare skin to lay one fur close enough to roll Jaehwan onto it and huddled together with him, laying the other fur over them. The omega pulled him in close, wrapping him in his body heat. The cinnamon wolf lay on the redhead's side of the fur, the blinding white wolf on Jaehwan's side. The sleek black alpha went, gently licking each of their noses, Jaehwan's included, and then lay down almost on their feet, sharing its body heat with them through the fur. 

Jaehwan woke briefly the next morning to be watered and fed by the redhead who introduced himself and his companions. He then passed out again, snuggling down into the furs and closer to the steady, calm beat of Hakyeon's heart. 

It took three days of nursing before he was able to walk again and they still had to stop frequently for him. Each day, his walking companion changed and when he finally came face to face with the alpha, he wasn't expecting Taekwoon to be a beautiful woman, nor the quiet gentility with which she handled him.

"I'm an alpha the same way you're an omega - interesting to know, but practically, useless." She had said and something about it stuck with him. She was their leader by default - the wild wolf who had the experience and knowledge to survive without a pack and it was her role to help them, guide them to self sufficiency. She knew the most, therefore she lead. The fact the other three were still there, despite them taking her teachings well and learning rapidly, Jaehwan realized, was because they  _wanted_  to be. They didn't  _have_  to listen to her or even stick around. And the mate scars they wore on their necks were proud - they wanted to be here, were content and fulfilled by her side. As she helped him hobble along and kept his fur drapery from falling off his shoulders, he understood why they might want to stay with her. 

* * *

There was a crash  and the front door rattled with impact, startling Wonshik and Hongbin even in their ready, crouched positions. Blood seeped under the door, but the shadow laying across it got up with a crazed snarl and leapt away. None of the omegas relaxed.

"We're going to die." Sanghyuk said to himself, tears beading at his eyes. "He's going to get in and he's going to kill us once he kills her."

"I won't let they happen." Wonshik and Hongbin said at the same time. Hakyeon just pressed the maknae's face into his neck and held him there as he began to full-on cry.

* * *

Sanghyuk had been given away shortly after he finished whelping. The only omega child of a noble line in the Han pack, he was given away as a gift to the pack that conquered them. He'd been taken by the reigning alpha, a crazed and tyrannical man who's lashings and maulings were more frightening to his warriors than the chance of death. 

For the longest time, Sanghyuk was a trophy and a pet. He was dressed up to look good and be kind in front of dignitaries, his pale blonde hair stark and beautiful in a pack full of dreary browns and forgetable greys. The rest of the time, he was a lapdog to the alpha. He was there to be petted and to follow his master along at every turn. But then, his heat hit and the man he'd known the whole while he'd grown up changed instantaneously, drastically and dangerously. 

The first heat had been torture. He'd been pinned down, legs kicked apart, arms bound tightly with itchy rope behind his back and his face pressed into the dirt. He'd cried and begged and pleaded for it to stop, to be used gentler if he must be, for the slaps to stop and his bruising grip to lighten. He didn't think it was asking for much, but his master did, and when his heat was over, he'd been slapped and beaten up, left curled on the floor of their bedroom to sob himself numb. 

When the other alphas took notice of his changed scent and approached him, it was he who was punished. He was accused to cheating, of having a wandering eye and whoring himself out to the first alpha that asked. Trying to deny it didn't work and when he was left on his own again, he had to drag a useless leg behind him to the washbasin. There was no place left unscathed and whenever any alpha approached him, he jerked away, head bowed and eyes glued to the floor. He wouldn't let himself be touched by any alpha other than his master - whom he could not stop - and isolated himself to sleep fitfully and wake up in pained tears because he rolled onto his back in his sleep again. He stopped talking to any of the deltas and disappeared from the few omegas this hellcamp had managed to keep. 

However, his efforts were in vain, because one of the alpha captains snuck in when his master was away and tried to force himself on him. Sanghyuk had screamed, struggling to keep the man off him and away from him. When his master had come in, the captain claimed he'd been invited in by the omega. Once the man was gone, Sanghyuk had grabbed by his beautiful hair and slapped and punched until his face was unrecognizable. His master then forced him onto his knees, forcing him to bare himself then making him endure getting used in a nearly sadistic fashion. After that, he was locked in a crate a size too small for his tall, broad body and lef there for three days. He would have died if not for the old female beta cleaner, who would slip him little bits of food and whatever water she herself could spare. 

Once he was let out again, Sanghyuk never left his master's room unless at his master's side, in which case he never left that. It was during one of his long stints alone that an unfamiliar male omega slipped into his room. As far as he'd known, he was the only male omega in the camp.

"Hi." The omega smiled. Sanghyuk liked him already. "My name is Hongbin."

"Sanghyuk." He offered back weakly. 

"I've heard you crying." Hongbin said. "Is it becaue of that brutish alpha?'

"My master is good to me." He replied automatically.

Hongbin frowned and he didn't like that. "If I said I could get you away from him, would you come, Sanghyuk?'

"Get . . . away? I'm not allowed to leave."

"I mean completely - get free of him, the camp, the pack, everything. Get to make your own choices and run free."

He felt the tears coming again. "There's no such thing as free."

Hongbin cocked his head. "You can't say that when you haven't seen the sun in over two weeks."

"I- I can't leave. If he finds out, if my master chases me-" He could practically feel his skin crawl with phantom pain. His face had only been back to normal for a little over three weeks now. 

"If he chases you, you'll be protected." Hongbin replied. 

"For what price? What do you want from me?" He felt like sobbing now and was only barely holding in the hysteria. "Everybody wants something. What do you want from me to help me?"

Hongbin pulled him into an embrace - a soft, loving one. "I was trapped too, beaten and hurt and abused. I don't wish the pain I experienced on anybody and yours is much worse than mine. Is it really so far fetched to believe that I just really want to help someone who needs it? I was saved when I needed saving and I want to offer you the same chance for freedom."

He clung to the other omega - a stranger - and nodded rapidly. "Save me, please."

A flurry of sound echoed across the camp and Hongbin pulled back, glancing over his shoulder. "That's the cue. We don't have much time."

"You . . . You knew I was going to say yes?"

Hongbi's smile loosened the clenching of his gut. "We're wolves, Sanghyuk. We're meant to be free and when chance presents it, we will always move towards the wilds. Especially those who have been denied it."

"That's probably true."

Hongbin took his hand, careful of the blackened bruises. "We don't have a lot of time. Just follow me and you'll be safe."

Hongbin lead him to a lake, where a creamy wolf was waiting for them. Orange like morning at midnight glowed from the direction of the camp and an hour or so later, three other wolves trotted into the clearing. Sanghyuk's heart stopped in his chest. 

"You didn't tell me that you've got an alpha." He muttered miserably. 

"Well, why don't you meet her for youself?" Hongbin urged.

"Her?"

"Umm-hmm." Hongbin kissed his temple. "Taekwoonie-noona was the one that saved me. She saved all of us. Her secondary gender is alpha, but she'd not  _an alpha_ , you know? Go ahead, go pet her."

Taekwoon was still in the ambiguity of her wolf form, sitting and lapping softly at the lake. Sanghyuk approached her cautiously, eyes fixed to the ground and hand outstretched to touch her fur. He met it without resistance, letting his fingers sink into the surprisingly soft pelt. He felt up her leg to her shoulder and across it to her neck, tentitively reaching out to touch the sensitive nape. She moved, but took care not to move with any haste or dislodge him in why way. She laid down, head falling onto his lap and her legs splayed out. She gave him access to her stomach and he blinked at her in surprise. She stretched up, muzzle opening just enough for her to lick the very tip of his nose before settling back down and closing her eyes. She shifted while laying down, tender pelt turning into thick, wavy lengths and velvety soft skin. Still, she remained with her eyes closed and her naked body exposed to him without shame or fear. 

He swallowed thickly. "Is this okay, alpha?"

She gazed up at him for a long minute before pressing a gentle kiss to the inside of his wrist. "My name is Jung Taekwoon. I'm not anybody's alpha."

Hongbin snorted. "You're my alpha."

Taekwoon closed her eyes, laying limp once more in his lap and basking in the moonlight. "Yes, I do belong to you, Bean. I belong to all of you."

Sanghyuk resumed petting her. "Even me?"

"If you'd like." She replied easily, softly. "But you can leave whenever you want. You don't owe anybody anything, not even us. Especially not me."

* * *

"This is all my fault." Sanghyuk sobbed, clutching Hakyeon's shirt and trying to muffle himself with his hand, so, so afraid. "It was me. He wants me back."

"Well, he's not getting you back." Hongbin snapped, pretty face set in grim determination. 

Taekwoon had taught them all the different skills she knew, the ones she used for survival. She taught them all how to recognize plants and what each of them did (edible, poisonous, medicinal, cooking flavouring). She taught them how to hunt - what prey was easy, what prey was hard, how not to  _overhunt_ , how to use the rest of the carcass for things, like bone pins for holding furs together, leather from the skins for sewing and binding, fats for skin and paw pad preservation in the wintertime, bladders and stomachs for water skins, how to make bone and stone daggers and tools. She taught them how to weave cooking bowls from wood and bark and not to waterproof them, what to use to heal wounds and what treated what illnesses best. She taught them how to work as a pack - like alphas would be expected to - and that there was no shame in their biology, to need something from the pack or to need help from the pack, that that's what they are there for. she also taught them all how to fight, both in their wolf forms and in their bare flesh. 

Hakyeon had specialized in cooking, weaving and leatherwork, doing a lot of  tasks to keep their small camp running. Jaehwan and Sanghyuk had come to enjoy hunting and gathering - they had been sex toys for so long and conditioned to want to be useful - because it felt the most like contributing. Wonshik and Hongbin, on the other hand, had taken on a more violent approach to deal with their conditioning - they fought. Wonshik and Hongbin sparred frequently, between helping hunting or cleaning leahters for Hakyeon, and especially when they got Taekwoon to join them. It had more than a little useful and they were fiercely proud of it - standing alongside Taekwoon and physically exherting their dominance, showing that they were as good as any alpha. 

To this day, Taekwoon never told them they had to stay with her, never bound them at all. Each one, on his own terms, had come to her and asked for her mark. Hongbin had been the first. 

_"Taekwoonie-noona?"_

_She had been treating a leather for a bowl cast. "Yes, Bean?"_

_He fidgeted, twisting his hands together. "I'm really attracted to you and I don't know what to do about it. I mean, omegas are supposed to go with alphas, but I've never been with a female before. I don't know how any of it works. Is it okay?"_

_She blinked, stunned, before grinning and pulling him down into a hug. "It's okay, Hongbinnie. I like you too. You're very pretty."_

_He flushed, nuzzling into her. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do."_

_"You can do anything you want. If you want to find out what proper mating is supposed to be like and you're interested in finding out with me, I'll help you."_

_"And if I . . . If I asked to be your mate?"_

_"I would ask you to have sex with me beforehand and then think heavier on it. It's not that I don't want to mate you, rather it's more that it's permanent and you'll wear that scar forever, even if you find someone else you'd rather mate to."_

_"I won't want anyone else."_

_"How do you knwo that?"_

_"Because there isn't anyone int he world who will treat me like you do."_

_"Maybe they will treat you better."_

_"I don't want better. I want this."_

Taekwoon did mate him, biting right on his scent gland halfway through his ninth heat with her. Hakyeon pulled her down to his neck, not long after she mated Hongbin, and told her that he  _needed_  her, wanted to always feel his saviour on his skin. Wonshik had come straight to her, before his second heat, and told her that he'd fallen in love with her. Jaehwan had taken some time, sex not being so special to him. Instead, he told her that he fell in love with her the first time she cuddled him in her sleep and the warmth in his heart then told him that he would never leave her side, mated or not - the scar on his neck was the reassurance she gave him that she, indeed, wanted him to stay with her. Sanghyuk had initially been very wary of her, skirting around her all the time and found whimpering in fear when he recognized his pre-heat symptoms. 

_"Do you want help?" Taekwoon asked him._

_"Stay away!" Sanghyuk had yelled, crawling away from her as well as he could through the haze of tears._

_She didn't move closer, but she also didn't back down. "I didn't mean from me. Do you want me to get one of the other omegas to help you through it or should I set up a tent to shelter you for its duration?"_

_He whimpered again, still so scared of her. He didn't know what female alphas were like, the way they mated and he really didn't want to find out. Not when the phantom of his former master still hung around him. "The omegas. I want to see the omegas."_

_Taekwoon nodded, tossing him a knife to protect himself and then dashed off back towards their camp proper. Minutes later, he heard Hakyeon's careful calls of his name before Jaehwan appeared around the edge of the tree and almost fell over him._

_"There you are!" The older omega exclaimed, kneeling down to pull the youngest into his arms. "Taekwoonie-noona said you wanted our help. How long until your heat starts?"_

_"Tomorrow, I think. Maybe sometime tonight."_

_"Okay. No need to shake so much, maknae."_

_The other four wolves emerged from between the trees soon after, Hakyeon dropping to his other side to coo over him. Wonshik and Hongbin stood protectively over him and offered him a kind of secure comfort. They could fight, they would protect him and ward off Taekwoon if she came for him._

_"You really are burning up." Hakyeon frowned. "Okay. Wonshik, I need you to go back to the camp outskirts and find out where Taekwoon is setting up the tent. Go and rub yourself all over it. I don''t need him any more distressed."_

_Wonshik had returned a few minutes later, helping Hongbin carry him back to the tent site. Taekwoon's scent lingered around the area, but Wonshik''s was much stronger and overrode it. It was also clear that in the hours it took to calm him down enough to move him, she hadn't been back._

_It took him five days to break the heat with the help of his omega hyungs. He overheard Hongbin murmuring about how Taekwoon's influence would have made it shorter - three days at most - and less agonizing on his system, but Wonshik had replied that Sanghyuk just wasn't ready yet. It took him another day and a half to recover from the dehydration and exahustion. After that, he went back to the campsite and found Taekwoon sitting at the fire. She looked up from the meat she was cooking and met his gaze, then doing the last thing he would have ever expected._

_Taekwoon skittered away, eyes locked on his, before turning, shifting, and running off into the forest. It took her until nightfall to come back, but she still didn't come close to him and stayed mostly in wolf form._

_"Why are you avoiding me?" Sanghyuk called out softly to her at the end of the night. She stopped, shifted back, and met his gaze._

_"I didn't know whether ornot it was just the heat that made you afraid of me. I didn't want you to be scared."_

Sanghyuk had pushed past his instincts for his next heat and spent it in Taekwoon's arms. Like Hongbin predicted, it was only three days and he was mostly coherent through it. She was nothing but gentle, patient and attentive for him, carding her fingers through his hair and tenderly kissing away all his fears. His next heat, the first thing he did was ask her to mate him.

* * *

The door rattled and clicked open. Wonshik and Hongbin tensed, muscles bunching in preparation for an attack. It was gently pushed open and Taekwoon's form was illuminated by the setting of the evening sun. She was in her human form, covered in blood and gashes alongside forming bruises. She was breathing hard past the blood in her mouth and her split lips. Her eyes were dark and wild. Perhaps the most crushing of all was how much of her beautiful black hair had been torn out or ripped off. Large sections of it were missing down her back.

She spit out the blood onto the cabin's porch. "I want you to come out." Even there, fierce and violent, she nevre commanded them. She always asked or requested. 

The five omegas stood, Sanghyuk trying his best to clear up his face. He'd been in here crying while Taekwoon was outside risking her life and he didn't want her to feel any burden coming from him. They followed her out and off the small deck, where she asked them to remain. In the small clearing outside their small home, the man who had once been Sanghyuk's master was on his knees in the grass. Shorn skin on his shoulder told them that the fur on their window had come from him, not Taekwoon, and he was still trying to snarl at her past the loose and missing teeth in his mouth, the blood streaming from his nose. He was sliced up very badly, sticky and slick with blood from almost everywhere. 

Without thinking about it, they all reached up and touched their bonding marks, closing in on each other. 

"He's mine." The alpha hissed out, slurred. "You stole him from me."

"I set your camp on fire." She corrected. "He ran away on his own."

"You and your fucking little harem." He snapped what remained of his teeth at them and they flinched away. 

Taekwoon lookde at them until she had all of their attention. "I'm giving this to you. What should I do with him now?"

The omegas looked amongst each other. Sanghyuk swallowed thickly. "Kill him."

They all looked at him, cowering behind Hakyeon and Wonshik.

Taekwoon only nodded. "Fast or slow?"

"Fast." Hongbin spit out before Sanghyuk could say anything. The look the elder wolf gave him told him that he would regret asking for anything else.

She nodded again, moving behind the downed alpha. She set her hands on his jaw. 

"You'll regret trying-"

She snapped his neck and lt him collapse.

She moved away from him, a stumble coming to her steps before she too hit her knees and fell.

* * *

It was a largely silent affair.

Collectively, they were strong eough to carry her. And carry her they did, down to the river, where they laid her in the shallows. Wonshik and Hongbin washed her body, Jaehwan and Sanghyuk going about stitching up her wounds and sealing them. Hakyeon took soap and scissors, carefully handling her head as he washed her hair and face. He threaded lavender essence into her hair and dabbled some on her collarbones. Then, he started cutting. 

The other four omegas watched as Hakyeon cut away her hair, the long black strands getting taken by the current and drifting away. Hakyeon took special care with how he cut it, styling it some to give her bangs that fell around the sides of her face and framed it. He cut the back lengths very short, trying his best to cover where hair had been torn out during her grapple with the other alpha. After he was done, they washed her again and dried her with the softest of their limited linens, applying salves and careful oils to her skin. They then carried her back to their cabin, avoiding the corpse, and laid her down on their mass of soft furs and home made pillows. They locked the door and laid down around her, curling in on her at all sides. 

None of them slept that night, all of them watching her breathe, tracing over her skin and being reassured by the warmth of her skin. 

* * *

Taekwoon woke up feeling sore, thirsty, hungry and warm. 

All around her, there were her boys. They were fast asleep in the afternoon sun, lulled by its warmth, no doubt, and all touching her. Sanghyuk and Jaehwan were at her legs, their hands resting on her thighs. Wonshik and Hongbin each had an arm they were cuddling, faces pressed into her shoulder. And Hakyeon was above her, one hand against her scalp. Their breathing was all soft and peaceful.

She managed to look down at herself without disturbing Hakyeon too much and was pleasantly surprised to see herself free of blood, her wounds carefully sewn up and cleaned. She felt the tension in her hair fall away.

_My hair._

She had forgotten. She'd been so angry during the fight - she could smell Sanghyuk's fear, how Wonshik and Hongbin, despite their fierceness, were nervous wrecks and the bravery Hakyeon used to force back the terror - and it had only fueled her violence. She had been outmatched and she knew it, but nothing would stop her from protecting her omegas, her boys, her  _mates_. Nothing short of death would take those men from her and she would be damned if this asshole that nearly broke her Hyukkie  _ever_ got his hands on him  _again_. She had forgotten that the alpha had immediately gone for her hair, grabbing fistfuls of it and pulling as hard as he could, trying to gain the upperhand on her speed and agility with his brute strength. 

She considered that for a moment. 

She'd been so bitter and angry when her pack had thrown her out. She had almost killed the alpha male that was threatened by her, only forced back by her parents and siblings. Her brothers had been three deltas, her parents a beta and a female omega. 

 _"Don't fight this, Taekwoonie."_  Her older brother had pleaded.  _"You're not going to win. Even if you dominate him, you'll only be feared."_

And for a long time, that was exactly what she wanted. She made it her mission to unseat male pack alphas, to challenge them and disgrace them. She did it to every pack around her birthplace just to make her statement. Her reputation got dark and once the packs started to fear her - properly fear her - she vanished. She gathered up her meagre supply and walked herself south. She'd never returned to her packlands or the lands surrounding it, the closest she'd come being when she ran into Wonshik's escort. 

Her hair had been at her shoulders at the time and she distinctly remembered the rival alpha sneering at her,  _"It's so feminine. You're barely an alpha. You're a waste of the alpha status. Such a cruel joke from nature, giving such a powerful status to such a weak gender."_  She had stood at a shard of mirror with a pair of scissors, debating, before she set them down and undid her hairtie. It would be more bothersome, but it would prove something, she felt. She was an alpha, a  _female alpha_  and there was nothing that any male alpha did that she couldn't. Her breasts didn't make her any less of an alpha and neither did her feminine looks and hair. She would keep it and fight for it. It was her cloak, her symbol. It was her rebellion.

And now it was gone. 

She wondered what that meant. She wondered if there was some kind of symbolism in that, knowing that it must have been her omegas to cut it. Was it a severance from her past, telling her to let go of a worthless grudge? Had she made her point to the universe, having amassed five wonderful mates  _and_  killed a rival? 

Her omegas had cut her hair, taken care of her. She didn't know what it meant, if it was any kind of sign, but there was warmth and tugging affection for them. She adored them so much, wanted nothing but to give them the best life she possibly could, give them all the children she knew they would crave. 

Taekwoon had never felt any different from anyone else before them. She felt like an alpha now. Strong, powerful, protective. 

She dropped her head again, nuzzling up into Hakyeon's hand. Sleepily, he wound them back into her short black hair and she hummed in contentment. She settled back against the furs and fell asleep surrounded by the people she loved.


End file.
